When the creator of a virtual reality world called the OASIS dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune. Wade Watts finds the first clue and starts a race for the Egg, with the help (and sometimes competition) of his OASIS pals, Aech and Art3mis. They are opposed by ruthless corporate giant IOI, whose chief, Sorrento, will stop at nothing to capture control of the OASIS to exploit it for profit.

I don’t know why, but I wasn’t really all that excited about seeing Ready Player One when it was announced. Now having seen it, I’m not sure why I wasn’t counting down the days for it. This movie has a lot of great things going for it and it could very well be the best overall film of the year, but above all else, it is a nostalgic overload that has a very strong story and a message behind it. Using that and the VR game craze, Ready Player One takes us to a time to come when everyone does everything on a VR game and pretty much tries to become what they want to become on a game. We follow our lonely lead and his team of online friends as they try to stop some evil corporation from taking all of that away, but along the way, he seems to find even more than just what he set out to find. That’s great storytelling, but then again this is a Steven Spielberg movie and we’ve come to expect nothing less than that from him.

The movie keeps a great pace and is just pure fun from start to finish. We have drama, we have a bit of a love story, and we have a whole lot of random references and special appearances from Jason to Batman and a million others in between. Basically, you’ll have to slow this movie down and watch it a whole bunch of times to even hope of catching everyone that pops up in this one. As for the 4K it looks good. The avatar side of things and the VR can make it look more like a game than a movie at times, but that’s the point. So, you won’t get any complaints from me. For now, I’m just barely keeping this one from a perfect score, but that isn’t to say that it might not eventually get a perfect score from me. I’ll have to re-watch it, but let me just say right now that I love this movie.

Extras

– The ’80s: You’re the Inspiration
– Game Changer: Cracking the Code
– Effects for a Brave New World
– Level up: Sound for the Future
– High Score: Endgame
– Ernie & Tye’s Excellent Adventure